Opening a UK account without UK address

There are two options:

1. Pick a different bank, and be less honest.

1. Pick a different bank, but look for one which will offer a current account to non-residents. Plenty of banks will do this (Barclays and HSBC being two that I know for certain do, I haven't checked any others), but they often have a fairly large minimum initial deposit so it pays to shop around. Also, many of these non-resident (or "international") accounts are actually Sterling accounts with a non-UK subsidiary of the bank, so if the account really needs to be located in the UK (ie, be allocated to a branch with a physical address in the UK) then it may be harder to achieve.

I'd suggest having a look at some of the websites devoted to expatriate living, such as

- most of them have sections on banking, or forums where you can ask for recommendations.

Mark

Is this just Nationwide's interpretation of the law (and, BTW, you can open accounts with Nationwide's International section at nationwideinternational.co.uk, but I'm not sure if that stipulates UK residency)? I have a Crédit Agricole current account and savings account as a non-resident (and I've never yet lived in France), so surely it can be done here, especially for ex-pats?

Chris

Nationwide based in the UK will not open an account if you do not have a UK address. That is their decision and not 'the law'.

But if you open the account with a UK address (son, neice etc) then you can later give an overseas address without the account being closed.

For people outside the UK with UK source of funds or income the nationwide is a very good account to have as there is no charges for withdrawals using ATM's overseas. saves up to 3% of ones expenditure a year. As such it is worth jumping through their hoops.

Restart the process either online (a bit slow as you have to have papers mailed backwards and forwards) or in a different branch if they are in the UK.

-- Mark BR

That's probably why they won't let you open an account if you're already non-resident - it's not economically viable for them. Other banks, which charge overseas users more to get at their money, have fewer such restrictions.

Mark

You are not any more profiable for them if you open an account with a UK address and then move abroad, or if you live in the UK and use the card only abroad.

Hi All,

Thanks for your input. I just couldn't believe that the Nationwide said, or rather implied, that we shouldn't have told the truth if we wanted an account. It seems to be the same old story about the good guys getting nowhere (sorry for my optimism )

The reason my folks wanted the NW account was indeed the lack of charges they would receive, and there don't seem to be too many of these accounts. Incidentally, I didn't notice a current account listed on the NW Int. website...is that the case or have I missed something?

I like the idea of them setting the account up with my address but then changing to their own in the future (I think Mark BR mentioned this) but does this not give the same problem in that the account would have to be in my name, because they can't prove they live here?

Thanks again for your time

BB

They don't have to prove they live there, they have to prove that they are associated with that address (if you prefer, they have to prove that they can pretend they live there). So you could pretend they're lodging with you, and they could get one of their bills (credit card perhaps) sent to your address for a while.

SNIP

There is nothing to stop you opening an account in your name (and address) and sending your parents the card and internet details.

All internet activities can be done by anyone who knows the passwords - and has the new gizmo thingie.

All ATM withdrawals can be done by anyone with the PIN.

This is frequently done by people with Thai girlfriends, they open an account and send the girl friend the ATM card.

There doesn't even need to be any trust by your parents as they can change the PIN and internet password.

Word of note for ALL flex account holders, Nationwide are replacing all cards, and the old cards will stop working 99 days after the arrival of the new card. In addition they are issuing devices that have to be used to make internet transfers out of the Nationwide system.

-- Mark BR

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:09:30 +0000, Bob Binz wrote: ...

Apologies: I hadn't looked closely enough. You are quire right.

Chris